Is Clutter Holding You Back From Living Your Ideal Life?

Here are 7 ways clutter can bog you down, and 7 ways you can benefit from decluttering

Houzz Contributor. Jeanne Taylor is a professional home organizer in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the co-owner of Tailorly with her business partner Patricia Lee. Together they create beautiful homes through decluttering, organizing, and styling. For more information visit www.tailorly.net.

Houzz Contributor. Jeanne Taylor is a professional home organizer in the San Francisco... More

Do you feel burdened by too many belongings? Is your desk piled high with papers, magazines and unpaid bills? If so, clutter may be holding you back from living the life you had envisioned for yourself.

As a professional home organizer, I’ve noticed that for many clients, decluttering provides greater benefits than mere visual appeal — it can relieve stress, improve relationships and more. Read on to learn about seven ways that clutter can hold you back as well as seven ways decluttering can improve your life. These aren’t just abstract concepts — these are all based on the work I’ve done with real people who were once overwhelmed by clutter.

1. Embarrassment About Clutter Prevents You From EntertainingHow clutter holds you back: Many of my clients say they would love to entertain more often, but embarrassment over a messy, disorganized home prevents them from hosting. And the thought of spending several days decluttering and cleaning seems like a Herculean effort. As a result, some abandon entertaining altogether.

Others stash clutter into boxes or bags that they shove in the basement, garage or closet before hosting an event — only to leave them there for years. Eventually, they feel burdened by the unopened boxes and in order to avoid adding to the collection, stop hosting entirely. I’ve helped clients sort boxes that have been unopened for years, amazing them by unearthing supposedly lost items — including gift cards and uncashed checks.

Benefit of decluttering: You are freed up to be more social. Eliminating clutter altogether, instead of hiding it, gives a sense of lightness. The ability to invite in neighbors and friends for a spontaneous glass of wine or cup of coffee, without being embarrassed by a messy home, can open up your life to new friendships and fresh possibilities.

How clutter holds you back: Most of my friends and clients admit they do not feel at ease in a messy home. When they see stacks of papers covering countertops, baskets of unfolded laundry in the hallway and unopened mail on the kitchen table, they feel unable to recline on the couch with a good book. But often, ridding themselves of these piles is a Sisyphean task — at least until they have dedicated space for all their belongings and systems in place to deal with mail and other paper clutter.

Benefit of decluttering: Decluttering belongings frees you to spend more time relaxing and doing what you love at home. Watch a movie with your family, enjoy a glass of wine with your partner or discover a new hobby in your decluttered, peaceful home.

How clutter holds you back: Piles of clothes over bedroom chairs, an overflowing hamper next to the dresser or stacks of unread books on the nightstand do not promote relaxation.Many of my clients report anxious thoughts about the sheer number of unwanted items strewn throughout their homes — thoughts that in turn keep them awake at night. It’s well-documented that a lack of sleep can contribute to a number of health problems, so it’s not a stretch to conclude that if clutter causes you to lose sleep, you may want to address it to help your health.

In addition, several of my clients have confided that the dust accumulating on their disorganized belongings contributes to family members’ allergies, which leaves them feeling guilty. (The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America notes that dust mites may be the most common trigger of year-round allergies and asthma.)

Benefit of decluttering: Among the positive health effects are reduced stress, potentially improved sleep and easier breathing, as well as increased time — all perks that support your health. When we unburden ourselves of excess belongings, we spend less time cleaning, dusting, sorting and putting things away. This opens up time for endeavors like going on a walk, taking a yoga class and preparing a healthy meal.

How clutter holds you back: Some clients find that clutter in their closets slows them down when getting ready for work. We recently helped a client with a highly stressful job who was overwhelmed at the thought of organizing her closets, which were so stuffed with clothes and accessories that she had trouble sorting through belongings and getting dressed in the morning. She admitted that sometimes it took her an hour to put together an outfit and that she often arrived at work frazzled and unfocused. On weekends, she had a hard time relaxing because she thought about the excessive number of clothes packed into her closets and drawers. Worrying prevented her from feeling refreshed on Monday.

Benefit of decluttering: Decluttering at home can actually enhance your productivity at work. Over the course of two days, we helped our client by removing all the clothing from closets and drawers, sorting it by type and coaching her to eliminate out-of-style or ill-fitting items. Discovering she had multiples of similar items, we were able to guide her in selecting favorites and donating the rest. We then sorted her remaining clothes by category and arranged items by color within each category.

Several weeks later, our client let us know that she’s now able to put together an outfit in the morning in minutesrather than the usual hour. She arrives at work relaxed and ready to take on her day. When she returns home at night she is able to unwind and no longer feels guilty about her unruly closet.

How clutter holds you back: Clutter leads some of my clients to let items like food, medicine and makeup go bad, resulting in unnecessary purchases as well as waste.

I recently decluttered and organized a pantry for a client who loves to cook. Spices, sauces, snacks and dry goods were haphazardly placed in the cabinet. I found multiples of the same spice, some so old they had lost their flavor. Many forgotten items buried in the back were stale or inedible. I discarded cans and jars of food past their expiration date, stale half-empty bags of chips and long-forgotten partially empty boxes of cereal.

Benefit of decluttering: Less clutter means you’ll waste less time and money. With an organized pantry that has a dedicated place for everything, my client reports that she can easily locate items and that she no longer buys unnecessary spices, snacks and sauces, saving her time and money.

How clutter holds you back: For some couples, a disorderly home can be a major source of tension, especially if one person is naturally tidy and the other is not. Over the years, arguing about the mess can strain the relationship. I have one client who admitted that a messy home had been a constant point of tension in her marriage and might have even contributed to it ending.

Benefit of decluttering: If you declutter your belongings, you and your spouse still might not see completely eye to eye, but at least one source of tension will be gone.

How clutter holds you back: Not only is clutter visually unappealing, it can also make you feel out of sorts and that your life is out of control. Clutter can be a reminder of all the things you have yet to accomplish. The exercise equipment sitting unused in the corner of your bedroom? It points to your failed New Year’s resolution. The size 8 pants hanging in your closet? They call attention to the 10 pounds you have been meaning to lose. Benefit of decluttering: Unburdening yourself from unused items and unrealistic expectations can free you to live your happiest life now. Besides, if you eventually do lose those 10 pounds, you will most likely want to reward yourself with an updated pair of pants anyway!

I LOVE articles like this! Thank you! I just went through my closets, kitchen cupboards, files and recipe binder and cleaned out and organized everything. I love the feeling of lightening the load. A few years ago I moved my parents out of the house I grew up in, where they lived for 50 years. That was plenty motivation for me to continue paring down on an ongoing basis. I don't ever want to have to deal with that much stuff again.

Oh woogies3, you're a person after my own heart. Ditto, ditto, ditto! Not only do you get how great it feels to clean out and organize, how much time and money and aggravation you save, you won't be leaving your mess for someone else to deal with! That alone should get and keep someone going. I had to dig thru my mother's chaos 3 times. I would never do that to my grown kids. Think there's a good message here.

I also struggle with finding the right balance, but several years ago I made a change in my home that was spot on. I had two overly large corner cabinets in my dining room......They were very pretty but very inefficient.....they held quite a lot, because everything in them was stacked. Meaning things had to be unstacked to use. MEANING: I didn't use things as often as I would have liked to. Finally I gave them away and replaced them with a running strip of UPPER cabinets (slightly deeper than 12 inches) along the floor. Since they were shallow, I gained floor and visual space, and there's really no opportunity for them to become cluttered. I have to keep very large platters and bowls (seldom but sometimes used) in other parts of the house, but other than that, all the pottery and glassware I need for entertaining is contained in these cabinets. On top of which, I have a lovely cherry countertop for serving.....and on which I have my mother's two delft lamps, flanking a large mirror. The cabinets were bought at Home Depot for a total of $600, they were maple but I painted the frames and doors white after assembling. Ten years later they still function and look great. This was hands down my single best decorating decision, and it could be applied to almost any room. If the rest of my house hadn't already been furnished I might have done it in EVERY room. In which case, I probably would have had no need to read this article. Happy New Year everyone......and happy organizing.